Recently, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) sponsored a
lecture by Professor Eugene Kontorovich to Congressional staff aides
in the Cannon House Office building on Capitol Hill. The lecture was
titled “One State, 2 States, 3 States- 4?” Mr. Kontorovich is a
Professor of Law at the Northwestern University School of Law, and is
currently a member of the renowned Institute for Advanced Study, in
the School of Social Sciences, in Princeton, NJ. The talk centered on
the efforts of Palestinian Arabs to defeat Israel in international
forums and gain legitimacy at Israel’s expense. Professor
Kontorovich, who is an expert in International Law and is currently
writing a book on maritime piracy, pointed out that the Palestinian
Arabs are complaining about Israeli “occupation” at the very same
time that they claim the sovereign privileges of a state. To be a
state, they must, of course, have a territory that they control.
According to Kontorovich, much of the rhetoric about ‘apartheid’ in
Israel is precisely backward, as it is the Palestinians who deny the
right of Jews to be treated equally under Palestinian Authority (PA)
laws. Professor Kontorovich also discussed the strategy of the PLO to
achieve a unilateral declaration of independence under international
law. He also made a strong, detailed and compelling argument for the
legality of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

Professor Kontorovich is the winner of the Federalist Society´s 2012
Bator Award, given to leading scholars under 40. He also served as
clerk for Judge Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit. He has been published in leading academic
journals, as well as the Wall Street Journal, Jerusalem Post, and
other publications. He has been consulted by the Israeli Military
Advocate General’s International Law Department, foreign consular
missions and other organizations.

Dan Pollak and Josh London, Co-Directors of Government Relations for
the ZOA said: “Professor Kontorovich was very effective in his talk
about current attempts by the Palestinian Arabs to shift the
discussion to the moral legitimacy of Israel. The Congressional
Staffers who attended the lecture asked very good questions, and it
was great to hear a scholar who can clearly explain to Congress that
Israel actually has International Law very much on its side as it
takes appropriate action to provide for its defense and security.
Furthermore, he placed everything in its proper context, explaining
that the wordings of international agreements are subject to the
actual conduct of other states when similar situations arise.”

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “The issues raised by
Professor Kontorovich need to be addressed by Congress as they decide
on continuing to fund the Palestinian Authority with US taxpayer
dollars (over $600 million last year). If there is any “apartheid” in
the region, it is being perpetrated by the Palestinian Arabs against
Jews. Whereas Israel has a large Arab and Muslim minority, the
Palestinians openly demand that their territory be judenrein. Recall
the statement last fall by the PLO ambassador to the United States,
Maen Areikat, saying that the future Palestinian state he is working
to establish, with help from the United Nations, should be free of
Jews. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas also stated in
2010 that a Palestinian Arab state would have no Israelis in it.

“The ZOA has repeatedly urged the Israeli and U.S. governments to cut
support to the PA until it makes good on signed commitments to arrest
terrorists, outlaw terrorist groups and end the incitement to hatred
and murder in the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools and youth
camps. Just over a week ago, PA President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a
speech in Doha, Qatar, in which he accused Israel of inventing a
Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem, working to undermine the
foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, and
harming freedom of religious worship in Jerusalem. It is important
for Congress to hear from experts like Professor Kontorovich.